Third Day

Click on the image to the left to view the (rather lengthy) slideshow...

Apart from a brief medical exam in the afternoon, today was a "rest" day, while we wait for passports to be processed. We and another family went after breakfast to visit a Buddhist temple, Shengjin, just behind the hotel. On a little market alley between the hotel and the temple we found ourselves surrounded by a few dozen curious and very happy Chinese, who would not let us pass because they wanted to see the children and talk about them. After a while Karen asked for directions to the temple gate; then they let us go through. Everywhere, people smile when they see us; we get quite a few "thumbs up" signals.

Today was a cling-to-Mommy day for Ellie. She barely tolerated me. At the end of the day she relented a bit and we had a tickle fest just before her bedtime. At breakfast, we tried to make her sit in a high chair -- and found out that she can really scream. To visit the temple, we did make her sit in a stroller. Karen had to walk beside the stroller, holding Ellie's hand. When we went shopping in the afternoon we left the stroller home and Ellie walked along very well with Karen and (sometimes) with me. When the families had dinner together, she did sit in a high chair without fuss, but it was a non-seat-belted high chair. You may notice in a couple of pictures that she's starting to smile here and there.

Thanks for the comments some of you have left -- it's great to have some idea who has been visiting! -- and for your good wishes and prayers. We are all doing very well. Mark and Tori, if you are reading this, Mom misses you and sends her love! And that goes for me, too. We are telling Ellie all about both of you. Tori, you should know that your little sister does not like to be held upside down!

Second Day

Ellie slept through her first night beautifully. she is sleeping beautifully now (as is Karen.) We did not take very many pictures yesterday; it was a runaround day. We started at the registration office, completing Ellie's adoption paperwork, making her officially ours in the records of the PRC. Then we went to the provincial capitol to have some documents notarized; then, to what I suppose was a federal building to have Ellie's passport photo taken. Our CCAI rep, Evelyn, got us through all this with amazing efficiency. It didn't hurt to have such a small adoption group - five families - and the Chinese civil servants were efficient, too.

After a brief rest at the hotel we went to Walmart, for "baby supplies." In our case these included juice, crackers, water, medicine (for me - I have a cold,) diapers, various toys, and a stroller.

Ellie was a trouper all day. I would not say she has bonded to us yet, but she has certainly become attached. Once or twice over the course of the day either Karen or I drifted out of sight for a moment and she became upset. So far she is a very shy and quiet child. She doesn't cry, but we can't get her to smile. She notices everything but doesn't try to be noticed. She likes to eat: rice, fruit, eggs, Cheerios, goldfish, cookies. At first she only took food when we fed her but by the end of the day we had her feeding herself. She became pretty active during the bus ride to Walmart, singing and talking to herself, and she walked along with us in the store. So we are coming along.

Ellie Arrives!

Click on the image to the left to view the brief slideshow... Later I hope to have a better slideshow control. Too tired to mess with it now.

We left for Nanchang this morning at about 8:00AM. Four families went together from Hong Kong; the others in our band went to Nanning. We arrived, rode bus to our hotel, settled in; were briefed at a meeting with Evelyn, our CCAI guide in Nanchang; met at 5:00pm to welcome the babies. Three babies arrived on time, but Ellie was late (traffic.) When she arrived the room was already chaotic. She looked in and tried to back out of the room! She cried hard at first and struggled, but she settled down pretty quickly when we got to ourselves in our room. She has decided that she likes Cheerios.

We have completed all our paperwork applications and expect to register the adoption tomorrow. But Ellie is "ours" as of now!

I will post more about our companion families later. They all have beautiful babies. (Ellie is best!) Stay tuned....

First Day: Hong Kong

Yesterday doesn't count as the first day because we spent all of it on airplanes. The flight was uneventful, which is a good thing. We met some other adoptive parents using CCAI on the plane.

Today we had a mini-tour of Hong Kong that included a sampan ride in the harbor, a jewelry factory visit, an open-market visit, a bus ride up to Victoria Peak and a dim sum lunch with our group (parents going to Jiangxi) and another group (going to Nanning.) We are the only parents in this group with a prior adoption. Karen answered quite a few questions over lunch.

We have some shots of Hong Kong that I will have to post later (posted on April 3; see left;) the computer here won't allow Karen's camera or my PDA to share files with it, and doesn't have a card reader. The hotel staff is trying but can't remove the administrative block. But none of you want pictures of Karen or I in Hong Kong anyway; you want pictures of Ellie! That's tomorrow.

Here we go....

By this time I suppose some of you are wondering whether Tom is excited yet.... Mostly, Tom is exhausted. I think Karen is exhausted too. But she, at least, has gone to bed.

We have a nice, early am flight to Chicago, for which we are all checked in, boarding passes in hand; a four-hour layover at fun and exciting ORD; then the long jump across the rest of the U. S. and over the Pacific to Hong Kong. According to the tickets, we get "lunch." Nothing of much importance regarding Ellie, or China, or the process of adoption, will arise until then, so you may have to be satisfied with descriptions of "lunch."

The picture accompanying this first blog post is from The People's Government of Nankang. They seem to be pictures of a big city, so I suspect the site is really for Nankang, Taiwan. But I wanted to limber up my slideshow-posting skills, so there we are. Practice hopefully will lead to speed. Click on the picture to view the show.